Today is the best I (well, my arms) have felt from a pressing session in a long time.

The goal is to find a way to keep making progress yet deal with my arm pain – healing up, making it go away, etc.. Flat bench? Pain. (overhead) Press? No pain. So, maybe incline pressing might be what I can program. Last week I worked up to a good-enough 1RM and today I started with programming. The programming uses the 5/3/1 progression, but keeping with a Paul Carter-inspired 5/4/3/2/1/1+ rep scheme as a way to reduce some volume as that seems to be one factor in making the pain flare up. I knew I still wanted the top set to be a rep-PR set, but I wasn’t sure what I’d do afterwards; the plan was to call it depending how the arms felt.

The arms felt great!

I felt a hint of irritation, but really no more than I might feel normally in a day. I take this as a good sign. Yes, this is a data point of 1 so I can’t make any strong decisions yet, but that it wasn’t an immediate bust I’m happy about. In fact, ended up being a 12-rep PR in incline press. Because it felt good, I found myself during the work-up wanting to just use 5/3/1 reps but had to tell myself not to: because if you’re starting to feel good, that’s good but you’re still not out of the woods. Modify one thing at a time right now. So that said, I did opt to pyramid down. That worked out well. I’m pleased.

Then flies. Why flies? Yeah, it gives a bit of sternal pectoral work, but it’s more than that. Flat bench DB flies really serve to open up my chest and give a great stretch. I need that sort of thing as part of a rehab-type strategy for dealing with all of this. Will it directly serve my needs? I think in some part yes. The first set sucked pretty bad because the stretch was painful, along with some other expansion of the chest feelings. By the end I felt really good. It’s not about the weight, it’s not about the reps, it’s about getting myself better. I’ll stick with flies for a bit to see how it affects me.

And so, I’m also intentionally not supersetting back work with pressing work (per protocol) because more experimentation to avoid irritating things that could detract from focus on the main movement. But then I can jack up the work a bit, here only taking about 1 minute rest between sets on the rows.

The only other main change? Seated French Press. I haven’t done these in a LONG time, but man it felt really good. I was able to push further than I would in say a skullcrusher. I enjoyed how this went. Need to keep it lighter, higher reps. But worked well.

Oh, and adding in the additional warm-up work (jumping jacks, mountain climbers, jumps). I think my body is enjoying it. I don’t feel as stiff during the day. Things just don’t complain as much.

All in all, I’m pleased with how things went. I have to continue working on my rehab work outside of the gym, but so far, so good. We’ll see what the rest of this cycle brings.

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 4
  • 120 x 3
  • 130 x 2
  • 150 x 1
  • 170 x 12 (12 rep PR)
  • 150 x 10
  • 135 x 10
• Flies
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
• Cable Rows
  • 105 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 12
• DB Upright Row
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
• Seated French Press
  • 55 x 15
  • 55 x 15
  • 55 x 15
  • 55 x 15
• Reverse EZ Bar Curl
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 11
  • 60 x 9

This marks the 6th cycle since reset, so it makes sense that things are starting to get heavy and rep PRs aren’t going to come as easy. For sure that didn’t happen today.

Today focused on 2 cues: 1. being tight, especially in my upper back, arms, etc. 2. ensuring I break parallel. The first is pretty easy, just be tight tight tight. I notice that as I go along I start to lose that upper back tightness. Even if I take a moment at the top to breathe and tighten up, do so. It helps.

The other is because it’s getting heavy. A little trepidation, a desire to make reps, and on video I’ve seen myself cut some reps short on the top sets. It’s maybe just an inch short, but it’s still short. So, sink it deep. As a result, I only hit required reps today. I felt like a 6th would have been possible but a grinder, and that’s not what we want. I’d rather have the 5 sinking it than more and not. My prior best with 305 was 6 (set back at the end of March), and while today was less, I’m pretty sure today’s reps were of higher quality. I’ll take it.

Is this time for a reset? Not yet, as it’s just one point. But for sure we’ll see how the rest of this cycle goes and if it’s time it’s time. One thought is if I do reset I may just do the “2-3 steps back” plan, where instead of recalculating max I just drop back a couple cycles and pick up from there. TBD.

Pause squats remain a good thing tho, because I have to get down into the hole, be tight all the way around, and hold it. They are really helping me achieve better reps and being solid out of the hole. I’m very happy to be doing them and want to continue with them for a while as my primary supplemental work.

Oh, backing up. I won’t be keeping official track of it, but I am adding in more to my warm-up. Again, “5/3/1 Forever” type stuff, with some jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and some sort of jump. Today’s jump was to just squat down and explode up to try to touch the ceiling. Nothing major, but enough to get things moving. Over time as my body adjusts to this work, I’ll add either more reps or maybe 1-2 more circuits of this.

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 145 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 215 x 3
  • 235 x 5
  • 270 x 5
  • 305 x 5
• Pause Squat
  • 235 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 235 x 5
• Split Squats
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 10

Ending deload week. So far, so good.

I mean, it’s deload, so there’s nothing really to note. My arm pain still lingers, but I do think the week off was worth it because it does feel better, just not totally gone. It’s just managing it at this point.

I have been thinking about how to make the next (and future) cycles go. It’s a combination of managing the arm pain, influences of the new “5/3/1 Forever” book, and just what’s best and right for me to achieve my goals. I think I’ll be generally staying the course, but I suspect I’ll adjust a few things before Monday.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 75 x 5
  • 75 x 5
  • 90 x 5
  • 90 x 5
  • 110 x 5
  • 110 x 5
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 135 x 12
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 15
  • 25 x 15
• Skullcrushers
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10

Today was a worthwhile experiment.

With my arm pain, I’m looking for a way to manage and reduce/eliminate the pain, but still keep lifting (if possible). For sure, flat benching is the worst as it directly causes pain to increase, but interestingly (overhead) pressing doesn’t have a problem. So going with that, I wondered how incline pressing might work for me. I can train it with the same progression and work as flat benching. It’s not quite the same, but there is fair carryover to flat benching. If a few cycles of incline pressing can help me continue work but also improve my pain issues, great. Let’s try it.

While this week is a deload, it’s also a fair opportunity to try to figure out a training max for incline pressing, so that’s what I did. A light warm-up, then just singles on the way up. Nothing big. I got to 225 and I could feel things starting to break down. I know I could have gone 235, and more (like 240-245) was a maybe; but there’s no real need because “starting too light” is the way to go and using 225 to calc the training levels is just fine (I’ll use a TM of 200).

In terms of pain, it wasn’t pain-free, but it wasn’t bad. I’ve been having a dull ache on and off every day, and while I felt a slight increase towards the last 2 sets, it was no where near as bad as it was last week flat benching.

So will inclines work for me? I don’t know. Best I can say was today gave me enough information to continue exploration because it’s possible it will work. It’s not a flat out “no” (I’ve had times when an experiment ended quickly because it was immediately obvious; this was far from that), but I need more information to know for sure. So, I’ll go ahead and program inclines for the upcoming cycle and I’ll see how it goes. It may work, it may not. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll have some additional data and will find something else.

As for programming it, I’ll likely stick with the Carter 5/4/3/2/1/1 style workup. As for additional work, I’ll likely either do the pyramid down sets OR I might just take a FSL with like 1 AMRAP then 1 50% set. I don’t know for sure; will see how the sessions go.

One thing about inclines is they don’t really work the sternal head of the pectoralis. So to manage that, I am thinking after inclines to add in something like flies. A little work there. But I don’t know. I may throw in pushups or dips instead. Again, it’ll come down to how things feel.

As for the rest of the session today, it’s deload. Nothing really to say. Only thing is swapping in Seated French Press. I want to try that for triceps work, so I tried it today just to see if my arms and shoulders wouldn’t complain. All feels good here, just will start light and work up.

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 1
  • 195 x 1
  • 225 x 1
• Cable Rows
  • 105 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
• DB Upright Row
  • 35e x 12
  • 35e x 12
• Seated French Press
  • 45 x 12
  • 55 x 12
• Reverse EZ Bar Curl
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12

Taking a deload week, not because I want to but because I need it. Trying to manage my arm pain issues.

The funny part is tomorrow when I bench, I’m actually going to try incline benching to see how the pain comes out there. Since pressing (i.e. vertical pressing, vs. the horizontal pressing of flat bench) doesn’t seem to cause me issues, I figure it’s worth exploring to see what inclines might do for me. Could it be a way to keep pressing, still have flat-bench carryover, yet not make my problems worse?

TBD

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 140 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 210 x 5
  • 210 x 5
• Pause Squat
  • 230 x 3
  • 230 x 3
• Split Squats
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
• Leg Extensions
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10

I’ll chalk up today as a good day. 3-rep PR at 175#.

The arms haven’t been feeling 100% so I did modify today: just press, no superset; do the lat work after; don’t bother with supplemental work. It helped a bit, but for sure I’m going to take next week as a deload to get some rest. I do want to work some, but just proper light deloading.

Pressing went well overall. Worked up to 175×3 which is a 3-rep PR. Things felt strong and good.

Pulldowns were then modified to be faster; basically only 1-minute rest between sets, so I didn’t have to do as much nor go as heavy.

Dumped the pushups and shrugs, just to reduce the load. I’ve actually been wondering about this, that I might up the “after top set work” (e.g. do FSL for 5×5 instead) and just leave it at that for the additional supplemental work. We’ll see, as I have some time to think about how I need to adjust stuff to help manage my arms.

Then everything else just was assistance work, no big deal.

So, things are progressing generally well. This is technically the end of the 5th cycle, and while progress is slowly as expected, it’s still moving along decently enough that I reckon I should get at least 2 more cycles out before a need to reset, and hopefully more.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 75 x 5
  • 90 x 5
  • 110 x 3
  • 140 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 3 (3 rep PR)
  • 155 x 6
  • 140 x 9
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 10
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 35
  • 25 x 20
  • 25 x 12
• Skullcrushers
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 7

I’ll chalk up today as a +10% day.

Last night I looked over things and set a goal of 3-4 reps. I hit 5 reps at 410#, which is a great rep PR; in fact, I felt like I could do at least 1 more (and still have some in the tank). However, I shut things down because arms.

All in all, it was a good day. The legs felt a little stiff at the start, but things got better as work went along. And the top set felt really solid. I hit my goal and felt so good I kept going.

The only thing that didn’t feel good was my arms. Normally deadlifting isn’t a problem, but things are irritated enough and I guess from gripping, the obvious tension in the arms, and then the impact when the weights hit the floor (the vibration up the arms) and yeah, it wasn’t too happy. Not horrible, but irritated nonetheless.

I’m starting to think about taking next week as an active deload. We’ll see how pressing goes tomorrow.

• Deadlift
  • 170 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 260 x 3
  • 325 x 5
  • 365 x 3
  • 410 x 5 (5 rep PR)
  • 365 x 5
  • 325 x 8
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
• Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 12

Yeah, I’m going to have to find some alternative to bench pressing.

Because of my continuing battle with my arm pain, I’ve been making modifications to my benching sessions. So far I’ve been using the 5/3/1 progression, but a Paul Carter-inspired 5/4/3/2/1/1+ rep scheme. The intention is to still get in some work, still work up to that top set, and still try for a rep PR, but keeping volume and stress on my arms low. The other change today was NOT supersetting in the back work. But I’m not sure that matters much.

Rowing and such doesn’t really bother things, but for sure it adds something if I superset. So I do think it was a reasonable thing. Despite that, the arm pain was stupid today. Mild ache as I warmed up. After the 225 set, things were hurting, and after the 250 I started to pack up to go home. The pain was bad. From last go-round, posture was a problem and contributed to shoulder and upper back issues, and while I didn’t feel any direct issues there, my understanding is such issues can radiate down the arm and manifest itself in biceps pain. So when I had that body work done it helped a lot, but since that time I have backslid on posture while I work. I have to get better about that, and am back on the wagon. I’m also working to make daily use of my Spud Inc Bowtie to see what it can do to help me out. I’ll also be rolling a lacrosse ball on my arms during meetings and such.

That said, 250×4 is a 4 rep PR, and all things considered I’m really happy with it. I actually felt like I could do 1-2 more, but given the arm issues I just racked it. I focused on crush-grip of the bar, and how that helped my whole body get tight — really makes a huge difference. Also wore wrist wraps, which I think helps but of course if I’m having problems it can’t stop the problems.

So, nice PR, but I’m going to have to make more changes. But first, rest of session.

I was feeling so bad I started to pack up. But after a few minutes the pain subsided enough that I opted to try to see what else I could do. I didn’t do any more benching (no down sets, no DB bench). And I didn’t want to do too much either. So I just tried some DB rows (Kroc-style) to see and that felt ok, so I kept going. Then I did the rest of what I normally would do, just reduced sets and reps. Get SOME work, just not much and nothing too stressful.

As for how to change up, I don’t know. My first thought? Move to incline benching. Thing is, it seems only flat benching is causing this problem. I press and I don’t notice issues. So, could incline benching work out ok? I don’t know. My feeling? this next cycle go ahead and find out. Work up to some sort of a max, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a 1RM; I could do a 3RM or 5RM and use formulas to estimate 1RM. From there, just progress as normal. I might also change my supplemental lift from DB bench; it just depends. I want to see how incline might go, because if that works out great, sticking with 3×10 of flat DB bench could be just fine.

Anyways, I have to get this under control.

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 105 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 225 x 1
  • 250 x 4 (4 rep PR)
• Kroc Row
  • 50 x 10e
  • 50 x 10e
  • 50 x 20e
• DB Upright Row
  • 35e x 12
  • 35e x 12
• Pressdowns
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12
• Reverse EZ Bar Curl
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12

Quite a good day. Set a PR that’s more than just a simple number.

Today was to work up to 335. That did mess with my head a bit because it’s just 10# shy of my all-time best, AND I need to do it for reps. Last night I made the goal of at least 3 reps, because that’s really what I need to continue to progress and stay on track, and this morning my head was pretty clear so I was pretty much focused on squatting. Good deal. But I still had a bit of nerves, a bit scared of the weight because it’s pushing to the edge of where I’ve barely ever gone, and my sessions haven’t been on fire so yeah… I was a little nervous, but also excited at the prospect because I knew when I made it, it’d be great.

During the 2nd warm-up set I felt a pop in my right knee. That did scare me because I thought maybe ACL? But no, I think it was just a “knuckle crack” sort of thing because nothing felt odd or unstable afterwards; that does happen from time to time.

First work set and I really cinched the belt tight. I do that sometimes thinking “I need more support now”, but gee, why? It actually was too tight – constricting – and it was hard to get a full breath and a good stable torso, plus it does something weird to my gultes and hams. There’s supportive, then there’s too tight, and this was too tight. But it did tell me something, because this does happen on days like this: I’m treating heavy weights like heavy weights, and I treat light weights like light weights. I should be treating light weights like heavy weights. That all the discipline that I’m putting in today, I should be putting into every rep every day. Something I need to get better at.

To that, the 2nd work set (300) killed some momentum. I know I’ve been falling forward a bit, and because I was working harder on being “strict” today (again, I should do that all the time) I was able to see that my fall forward happens as I get into the hole: I lose a little bit of back erectness. Sure you will lean forward some, but I’m leaning probably a little too much and the weight is falling out of groove (not over the mid-foot). So this set found myself really focusing on being tight upper back and upright. Thus, on the 3rd rep I felt like I was almost totally vertical (I wasn’t, but it felt that way) and as a result it was a bit of a grinder to get that 3rd rep. That didn’t set me up for the last set very well: going to go up 35# and get 3 reps, and I just struggled on less weight for 3? Ugh. But I also told myself that the reason was I was overcompensating with the torso. That I should just work on being TIGHT, but otherwise don’t think about it too much.

There was another factor in play: depth. I recently have felt like I’m cutting depth as the weight gets heavier. I have done some videos and I’m getting to parallel, but for sure there’ll be a rep here or there that’s just a hair short. No no, not good. Sink it. I don’t need to go ass-to-grass, but I do want to ensure I’m clearly breaking parallel. So I told myself I’d rather get 1 GOOD rep today at 335 than 3 (or any) that cut short. Depth was important today.

So I put it all out of my head. Told myself a few cues then discarded and started again because it was too many cues. My one cue? TIGHT. And I also told myself: you will go down, and you WILL come back up. It’s that simple. Of course I knew I needed a few other things, like depth and so on, but I wanted to minimize cues: TIGHT, and you will come back up.

Rep 1. Fine. Rep 2. Fine. Can I do 3? My muscles didn’t feel fatigued, but I knew things overall were tiring. Still, 3 was my goal and I figured I had a good shot, so I went for it.

I got to the sticking-point – and I stuck.

In the span of about 1 second I had a long conversation with myself. It started with a “SHIT!”. Then my brain screamed “DUMP THE BAR!”. Then the rest of me said “NO!” and I kept pushing. I mean, if the lift is going to fail, it will fail – let things give out on their own, not because I gave up, y’know? And I pushed, and I grunted, and I got the rep.

On the one hand, it was a great PR. But on the other, it was a more meaningful PR because I pushed through. PR sets (in the 5/3/1 philosophy) are intended to push you to greater things, to expect more from yourself. It’s how you dominate, it’s how you get better. And for me, it was that inner battle that was more meaningful. Life pushes you down, and you get back up. When it pushes harder, you push harder. There’s no need for you to give up: if something’s going to give out, then it will give out, but don’t let that be your mind or spirit. Keep fighting for it. It’s sweeter.

So, today was cool. 🙂

Pauses were pauses.

Instead of lunges, I opted for bodyweight squats. Nothing too taxing, but also because I wanted a little more time on squats to work out some form issues. I just got Wendler’s new “5/3/1 Forever” book and finished it over the weekend. It got me thinking about some things with my programming; not going to change things just yet as I need to digest and think a little more. But one consideration is not necessarily a BBB template, but something to simply give me more work in the main lifts so I can continue to work on form and technique (maybe Boring But Strong).

Anyways, tomorrow will be interesting. My arms are still feeling less than 100%, so I’ve got some minor modifications to bench day and I’ll see how it goes.

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 140 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 210 x 3
  • 265 x 5
  • 300 x 3
  • 335 x 3 (3 rep PR)
• Pause Squat
  • 265 x 3
  • 265 x 3
  • 265 x 3
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Leg Extensions
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 13
  • BW x 10